Sunday, December 12, 2021

Pookon's Ill Cinema - February 2021

Now that I've introduced the idea and laid out the ground rules, I'm not sure what to do with the opening paragraph. I guess I can talk about February. There's not much to this month aside from it being cold outside and there being only 28 days, which gives me 2-3 less days in which to watch movies. I guess when I tally things up at the bottom of the post we'll see if that played a difference in how many movies I was able to watch this month. 

Aside from that the only thing I know is that it snowed a lot this month. So much to the point that I didn't know what to do with it anymore. The only reason that I bring that up is that because my car is parked on a slab next to the garage which is in back of the house along an alley. With little to no yard space and needing to keep the alley open, there is no way to put the snow if it doesn't melt and keeps on accumulating. At some point I gave up on trying to keep a clear path to get my car in and out of the parking spot, so eventually I just gave up and decided not to go anywhere. The only reason that I bring that up is because with no ride and no place to go, I had nothing better to do than to lay back and watch some movies. So that might help the overall numbers. Well, there's nothing left to do but get right into it. Lights, camera, action bitches!

2/01 - Monday
  • American Pie 2
2/02 - Tuesday
  • The Long Kiss Goodnight
  • Groundhog Day
  • Groundhog Day (2nd watch of the day)
  • Man of the House (1995)
The Long Kiss Goodnight is one of my favorite Christmas movies. Yes, you heard me right. If the movie takes place at Christmas and it is essential to the plot, then it is a Christmas movie. I can't remember if I watched it during the 2020 Christmas season (as I wasn't keeping track), but I sure as hell know I watched and enjoyed the shit out of it today.

With today also being Groundhog Day, one of my annual traditions is to get together with Jenny and Kevin and watch the Bill Murray classic on one of the best holidays of the entire year. I often watch it multiple times on and around this date, which is why it is listed twice. Since Phil Connors keep reliving the same day (*SPOLER ALERT*), I feel like that's a good enough reason to watch it more than once today. Like I needed a reason.

2/03 - Wednesday
  • American Wedding
  • Kingsman: The Golden Circle
2/04 - Thursday
  • American Reunion
2/05 - Friday
  • Odd Thomas *
This movie has been on my docket to watch probably since I first heard about it in 2013. I don't know why it took me this long to watch it, but that's kind of the point of this experiment as I'm making a point to watch a handful of "new" movies each month. If you're into ghosts and the paranormal, I suggest giving this a watch. 

2/06 - Saturday
  • Just Like Heaven
  • Blended *
Blended might have been the worst movie I watched this month and would be a candidate for worst of the year, but I just can't bring myself to put it on either list. And that's because of two things. 1 - I'm a sucker for Adam Sandler. So many of his movies are pretty bad but god damn it do I watch every single one and at least laugh a little bit. And 2 - Terry Crews absolutely steals every scene he is in. I laughed at him more than I do at some entire movies and he singlehandedly saved this movie for me. I would never recommend this or watch it ever again, but I can't say I hated it even though it was terrible.

2/07 - Sunday
  • Space Cowboys
  • Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
  • Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2/08 - Monday
  • Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2/09 - Tuesday
  • Shallow Hal
  • The Mummy (2017) *
Obviously I watch a lot of movies. You probably knew that about me before I started this blog series. I only say this because these two movies I watched today couldn't be more different in my memory. Shallow Hal is one of those movies that I just adore and would watch if I was flipping through the channels and saw it was on. And there are some scenes in this movie I think about all the time. 

The Mummy (2017) starring Tom Cruise is one of the more forgettable movies I have ever seen. Honestly if not for this list, I don't think I would remember seeing it. It didn't bring anything new to the game (characters, plot, special effects, action sequences, etc.) and was a big disappointment seeing as it was supposed to set up Universal Monsters "Dark Universe" with Russell Crowe's Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde being the connective tissue. But that kind of fizzled out after just one movie and led to the cancelation of some pretty high profile projects (like The Invisible Man with Johnny Depp, The Bride of Frankenstein with Angelina Jolie and Frankenstein with Javier Bardem). File this one under who cares/don't care. 

2/10 - Wednesday
  • Beavis & Butthead Do America
  • Back to the Future
Beavis & Butthead Do America is a comedic masterpiece and is in my Top 10 movies of all time. It's not even fair how good this movie is yet I never hear anyone talking about it. I think of some of the lines in this movie almost every week and laugh about how hilarious they are.

2/11 - Thursday
  • Clifford
  • Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie *
I was watching Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie near the end of my work shift and my Roommate (Mom) walked in on me (came home from work) and all I could think to say was, "It's not what it looks like." That was embarrassing because it was what it looked like. 

2/12 - Friday
  • The Wedding Singer
  • 50 First Dates
  • Happy Death Day
  • Happy Death Day 2 U
I enjoyed Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2 U so much that I had to show them to Jenny and Andy. And Andy was into them so much that he stayed awake for both movies, which is rare as his bedtime is usually around 1030pm even on the weekends. 

2/13 - Saturday

2/14 - Sunday
  • Muppet Treasure Island *
  • Grosse Pointe Blank
  • The Mask
  • The Man Who Knew Too Little
I don't know why it took me this long into my life to watch Muppet Treasure Island. The only reason I can think of is that I was 15 years old when it came out and I was too busy trying to be cool, avoiding kid things like the Muppets and doing adult things instead. I was dumb as a teenager. Never try to be like everyone else. Never try to be cool. Just be yourself. That's what's really cool. I know that now.

2/15 - Monday
  • Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
2/16 - Tuesday
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
2/17 - Wednesday
  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2/18 - Thursday
  • Superman: The Movie
  • The Legend of Drunken Master *
2/19 - Friday
  • Double Team *
2/20 - Saturday
  • Dr. Suess' Horton Hears a Who! *
  • The Peanuts Movie *
I can't say that I was ever a big fan of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Peanuts gang. I don't watch the holiday specials (Christmas/Halloween) and I read the comics, just not on a regular basis. This 2015 film wasn't really on my radar but I did intend to watch it some day. And I'm glad that I did because it was such a wholesome, genuinely fun, well done G-rated film that everyone can enjoy. I don't know how else to describe it but to say that it was incredibly refreshing that something like this was made (and made well) in today's world. I would encourage everyone to check out this animated film.

2/21 - Sunday
  • John Q
2/22 - Monday
  • Big
  • Mrs. Doubtfire
2/23 - Tuesday
  • Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
2/24 - Wednesday
  • Fantastic Four
  • Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
2/25 - Thursday
  • Fantastic 4 (2015)
  • The Nutty Professor
2/26 - Friday
  • The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
  • Superman III
  • Left Behind (2014 Nicolas Cage) *
2/27 - Saturday
  • Left Behind: The Movie (2000 Kirk Cameron) *
  • Left Behind II: Tribulation Force *
  • Left Behind III: World at War *
  • John Wick
  • John Wick Chapter 2
I do love me some end of the World/Apocalypse movies, but the Left Behind series? Woof. After watching the Nicolas Cage version first (which was made after these ones), I should have known that it couldn't get any better than that. And was I right. Woof indeed. 

2/28 - Sunday
  • Greenland *
  • The Quake *
I'm a real sucker for disaster movies. I'll watch any and all of them no matter how good (which is rare) or how bad (which is common) they are. But that's why this last day of February was such a delight. Greenland was a movie I knew I was going to like from when I first saw the preview. I just wasn't going to pay to see it in theaters so I just needed to wait until it arrived on a streaming service. It gave me everything I wanted from an end of the world comet movie.

Last year I watched a Norwegian film from 2015 called The Wave and even though it was subtitled (which is hard for someone like me who has problems paying attention), I thought it was really good. Besides, does the dialogue really matter in a disaster movie? The Quake is a sequel to The Wave and is about an Earthquake instead (although the Wave was caused by an earthquake). If you're into disaster movies and don't mind Norwegians or subtitles, I would say definitely check it out. 

Number of Movies Watched this Month: 56
Most Watched Movie this Month: Groundhog Day (2 times)
Number of New Movies Watched this Month: 15
Best New Movie Watched this Month: 
The Peanuts Movie
Worst Movie Watched this Month: Left Behind 1-3 (the Kirk Cameron ones)


Number of Movies Watched this Year: 118
Most Watched Movie this Year: Back to the Future (2 times) Groundhog Day (2 times) / Happy Death Day (2 times) / Happy Death Day 2 U (2 times)
Number of New Movies Watched this Year: 33
Best New Movie Watched this Year: The Peanuts Movie

Worst Movie Watched this Year: 
Left Behind 1-3 (the Kirk Cameron ones)


 - Scott Reck -

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